Mandarin Orange Prices from China Increase by 10% in 2013

Price of Mandarin oranges from China is higher by more than 10% this year compared to the price last year.

Chairman of Sarawak China Trades Importers and Exporters Association, Hong Wing Huong, said the surge in the price was due to two factors. “The increase in the wages of workers in China is one of the reasons. The other reason is the cold snap and drought in the country, which affected the planting of the crop,” Hong said after the presentation of Ang Pau to Sibu Benevolent Society yesterday. The bad weather, he said, had resulted in fewer oranges.

“For this coming Chinese New Year, we are importing according to the demand,” he said. A box of Mandarin oranges costs between RM26 [US$8.54] and RM28 [US$9.20], depending on their sizes. The prices of other goods from China, he said, were also on an upward trend but not as much as Mandarin oranges. At the ceremony, the home administrator Alexander Lau received the ang pau from Hong.